Carmel Myers Biography

Fast Facts

• Got her big break when her father, a rabbi who had worked with director D․W․ Griffith on the film "Intolerance," asked Griffith to offer his daughter a screen test
• First appeared in short silent films at the Selig Zoo in Los Angeles in 1909
• Quote: "(In response to producer Samuel Goldwyn, who promised her work if she changed her "too Jewish" name): "If my career depends upon hiding the fact that I was born a Jew, I'd rather not have one․""
• Best known as a silent film actress who appeared in "Ben Hur," "The Haunted Pajamas," and "Sirens of the Sea․"
• Despite leading a sheltered life in her youth, she had the natural looks for the exotic "vamp" characters that defined her career
• Owned a production company that distributed radio and TV shows and also imported and sold French perfume
• Was also a successful vaudeville star, performing twice a day at the Palace Theater, and also spent a year performing in Sigmund Romberg musicals
• Wrote several works of short fiction as well as a self-help book titled "Don't Think About It," published in 1952
• Had one of the earliest TV talk shows, "The Carmel Myers Show," in 1951, which she hosted from her apartment
• Held a patent for an electronic synchronizer that could control studio lights